CME-2A Study Plan: What to Study With the Weeks You Have Left

Last verified: 31 October 2026. This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Financial Academy (FA), the Capital Market Authority (CMA), CISI or any other government body. Exam details can change, so check the FA CME-2A page and the CISI Global Financial Compliance page before you rely on any detail.

This guide answers one question: with the weeks you have left before CME-2A, the CISI Global Financial Compliance exam, what should you study first? The five chapters and their weightings are in the syllabus guide; booking, fees and retakes are in the registration guide.

The numbers behind the plan

CME-2A is CISI's international exam. Saudi capital market regulations are covered by CME-2B, so do not mix up the two when you study.

Where the marks are

The weightings are close: The Compliance Function (24 questions), The International Regulatory Environment (20), Managing the Risk of Financial Crime (20), Ethics, Integrity and Fairness (19), and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (17). No chapter has fewer than 17 questions, and each chapter's count can move by at most two either way. However little time you have, do not skip a whole chapter; order the chapters by your weakness first and by weighting second.

Here is a suggested split of about 100 hours by weighting: chapter 1 about 20 hours, chapter 2 about 24, chapter 3 about 20, chapter 4 about 19 and chapter 5 about 17.

Start by measuring where you are

Before you open the workbook, do the 10 free questions, no sign-up needed. You will see your score and your weakest chapters, which decide which plan below you follow and where you spend the first week.

More than six weeks left: cover the whole workbook

• Weeks 1 and 2: chapter 1, The International Regulatory Environment (20 questions): models of regulation and the international approach to regulation. This chapter sets the framework the later chapters build on.
• Weeks 3 and 4: chapter 2, The Compliance Function (24 questions): international best practice, the risk of non-compliance and managing regulatory relationships. It is the largest chapter.
• Week 5: chapter 3, Managing the Risk of Financial Crime (20 questions): money laundering and terrorist financing, the standards required of firms, and policies, procedures and controls.
• Week 6: chapter 4, Ethics, Integrity and Fairness (19 questions): ethics, market integrity, fair conduct, client outcomes, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.
• Week 7: chapter 5, Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (17 questions): corporate governance, the key risk types and their effect on the compliance function, and compliance risks.
• After each chapter, practise its questions in the practice area and review your mistakes in the wrong-answers list. Keep the full mock exams for the last two weeks.

Two to four weeks left: follow your result and the weightings

1. Start with the two weakest chapters from your free-questions result.
2. Then chapter 2 (24 questions) if it was not one of them, as it is the heaviest.
3. Then chapters 1 and 3 (20 questions each).
4. Finally chapters 4 and 5 (36 questions together). Read their summaries and practise their questions rather than skipping them; each of their questions counts as much as any other.
5. Sit one full mock exam at the end of each week to measure your progress, and go back the next week to the chapter where you lost the most.

The last week: timed mocks and wrong answers

• Sit two or three full mock exams, 100 questions in 120 minutes, under exam-like conditions.
• Watch your pace: after 60 minutes you should have answered about 50 questions.
• After each mock, spend longer reviewing than you spent sitting it: read the explanation of every option for the questions you got wrong and note which chapter each came from.
• Do not start a new chapter this week; go back to the weakest chapters in your full-mock results.
• If your full-mock score is still below 70 in the last week, consider moving your date before you pay for another attempt. Booking and retakes are covered in the registration guide.

One or two days before the exam

• Light review only: your list of wrong answers and the terms you mix up, such as the different risk types and the bodies that set standards.
• Make sure you have completed CISI's QRF form online before the exam; otherwise no official result is issued.
• Check your booking confirmation, your ID and your arrival time, and sleep well: the exam is 120 minutes of sustained concentration.

How to use this site

• Free questions: the free practice test has 10 questions covering the five chapters, with your score and an explanation of every option. Start with it to see where you stand.
• Your score by chapter: in the practice area your result is shown chapter by chapter, so you see where you lose marks, and you can practise one chapter at a time.
• Wrong-answers list: questions you got wrong are saved so you can return to them and build your own quiz from them.
• Full mock exam: the mock exam has the same question count, time and chapter proportions as the real exam, and needs a pass for this exam.
• What is free: 10 free questions covering the five chapters. The full question bank and the full mock exams need a pass for this exam (7 days or lifetime access). A 7-day pass suits the last week of mocks; lifetime access suits the longer plans.
• Every question and explanation is in Arabic and English, so you can check a term in the other language.
• Scores on this site are for practice only and are not an official result.